The heart failure syndrome is a common pathophysiologic state in which the heart is unable to pump blood at a level appropriate to the requirements of the metabolizing tissues, or can it do so only with a high diastolic filling pressure. This clinical syndrome, which can be caused by various pathological conditions, is characterised by a low cardiac output and an increase in the intracardiac filling pressure.
Note that about one third of patients with heart failure suffer from diastolic heart failure whose symptoms are due, in most cases, to an increase in the pressure in the left atrium. This increase in the left atrial pressure causes an increase in the pulmonary venous pressure, a condition partly responsible for dyspnea. These symptoms include chronic dyspnea, a condition that worsens in the supine position causing small changes in the pulmonary venous pressure, resulting in an aggravation of symptoms. This condition may progress into pulmonary edema, one of the most dangerous consequences associated with the heart failure syndrome. Pulmonary edema is caused by the sudden increase in the capillary hydrostatic pressure and by the accumulation of fluid with low protein content in the interstitium and in the pulmonary alveoli. Without proper and prompt treatment, this condition can deteriorate rapidly and eventually lead to death.
As regards the right side of the heart, the pulmonary hypertension, a rare disease characterised by right ventricular failure and high right atrial pressure, can lead to systemic venous congestion and eventually to death. One of the therapeutic strategies adopted in the last stages of pulmonary hypertension is atrial septostomy, a percutaneous intervention aimed at reducing the high right atrial pressure by creating a hole in the native atrial septum. This procedure has been shown to be effective in increasing the cardiac output, improving the symptoms of heart failure and reducing the hyperactivity of the sympathetic autonomic nervous system.
Therefore, in the medical industry, the need is felt for devices and methods for the treatment of heart failure both as regards the right side and the left side of the heart.